DEGREES OF DEATH

The afternoon rain was the absolute worst kind. Not heavy enough to cool things down, but just enough to trap the heat inside the Hudson University Law School cafeteria. The air felt sticky. A stuffy mix of wet linoleum, spicy smashed chicken, and cheap coffee made every breath feel heavy.

Daniel leaned back against the hard wooden chair, his eyes glued to his laptop screen. The bluish light reflected in his pupils, displaying a scene where a man’s intestines were being pulled out by a horde of the living dead. He couldn't care less about the gruesome details. His stomach was growling, and he just wanted to eat.

“I’m gonna literally starve to death before your movie is over,” Daniel grumbled under his breath, wiping the sweat from his face.

Next to him, Xavier was completely unfazed. The curly-haired guy was busy munching on potato chips with his mouth half-open, the sound of his chewing competing with the screams coming from the laptop’s speakers.

“Damn, that’s a lot of zombies,” Xavier mumbled, his eyes shining with excitement. He wiped the chip dust onto his already wrinkled t-shirt. “Seriously, Niel. It gets you thinking … what if something like this suddenly happened for real, right here on campus?”

Daniel took a short breath and let out a cynical snort. “Your brain is fried from too much MSG, Vier. That’s just cheap CGI. Logically and medically, a virus that can reanimate dead cells and make people run marathons has never existed in the history of science. Rabies just gives you seizures, it doesn’t make you sprint around biting people’s necks.”

“Dude, it’s just a hypothetical,” Xavier shot back casually. To him, an apocalypse was nothing more than a new level in a video game. “But it’d be awesome, right? Imagine us running down the hallways. You with a mop, me with a cafeteria pot. We’d be survivors.”

“Awesome how, you psycho?” chimed in Chania, who was huddled close to Daniel’s side of the table. She’d been glancing at the screen with a look of restrained horror, her fingers gripping the edge of the wooden table so tightly her knuckles were white. “You cried when the neighbor’s dog chased you during orientation week. Imagine being chased by a corpse.”

Daniel chuckled, then smacked Xavier on the back of the head hard enough to send a chip flying onto the table. “Listen to her. Now shut your laptop. Stop daydreaming. I still want to live a quiet life, graduate, get a job, and pay off my loans. Don’t bring your apocalypse fantasies here.”

“Dammit! That hurt, Niel!” Xavier winced, rubbing his head, but he slammed the movie window shut anyway. “Besides, where’s your food? It’s taking forever.”

“Hang tight, sweethearts! Becca’s making the fried rice now, five more minutes!” the Cafeteria Lady shouted from behind the glass display, busy stirring something in a massive wok.

“The cafeteria lady’s five minutes is fifteen minutes in normal people time,” Daniel grumbled. He glanced at his black wristwatch. “And where the hell is Bianca? She’s been gone for half an hour just to buy a soda and a pizza from across the street.”

“You’re such a nag for a guy,” Xavier teased. “When two girls walk together, they’re bound to stop and check out a skincare sale first. Or wait in line for that pizza that’s seasoned with stardust or whatever. Just wait.”

Daniel clicked his tongue in annoyance. He pushed his chair back and stood up, stretching his back muscles, which were stiff from sitting too long. “My body’s so sore. I’m gonna hit the restroom real quick. You guys don’t go anywhere, wait for the food and for Bianca.”

“You got it. Don’t take too long, or I’ll eat your portion,” Xavier threatened, already reopening his laptop.

Daniel just flipped him the bird before turning away. He walked casually down the long corridor that connected the main dining area to the restrooms in the left wing of the building. The cafeteria was bustling with students taking shelter from the rain. The sound of conversations and laughter echoed off the tiled walls.

Everything was normal. Everything was ordinary.

But just as Daniel took his fifth step past the restroom door, he froze.

At the end of a side corridor, near the service exit for the trash, a woman was walking in strangely. Her school blazer was torn at the shoulder. Her movements were stiff, dragging her left leg as if its muscles had forgotten how to take orders from her brain. Her head was bowed, long hair obscuring her face.

Daniel narrowed his eyes. His logical brain tried to find an explanation. Was she drunk? Having a seizure?

No. What made the hair on the back of his neck stand up wasn't her shambling walk, but the bizarre sound coming from her throat.

Click… click… krrrk…

It was a wet, rhythmic sound, like someone choking on their own blood, but with a constant, steady beat. In the world he was about to recognize as hell, it was the first sign of mutation. But Daniel didn’t know that yet.

Suddenly, from the opposite direction, Becca appeared. The upperclassman, who was on friendly terms with Daniel, was rushing past with a tray holding three plates of fried rice.

“Excuse me, watch your step—” Becca’s friendly words were cut short.

The strange woman looked up. Under the flickering hallway light, Daniel saw it. Her face was deathly pale, thick black veins bulging at her temples. Her eyes were a milky, cloudy white, with no pupils at all.

A second passed. Time seemed to slow down.

The woman didn’t growl. She lunged with a speed that was completely unnatural for a body that looked so broken.

“BECCA!” Daniel screamed, his voice cracking.

He shot forward, his feet scrambling on the slick tile floor. But it was too late. The woman slammed into Becca with brutal force. The tray flew into the air, plates shattering against the floor with a deafening crash. Fried rice scattered everywhere.

The woman pinned Becca to the ground, her jaw opening abnormally wide, and sank her teeth straight into Becca’s neck.

CRUNCH!

A spray of fresh blood erupted, soaking the white tiles and the nearby wall. The metallic stench of it instantly hit Daniel’s nose, slamming into his lungs with a reality his brain couldn’t deny.

The first scream exploded from inside the cafeteria. A pure, primal scream of pain and terror that had never been heard within these academic halls. Chaos erupted in seconds. Students who had been laughing moments before were now scrambling, shoving each other, knocking over tables and chairs in a blind panic.

Daniel was frozen. He stood rooted just six feet away from Becca.

He watched, horrified, as Becca’s body convulsed violently in a growing pool of her own blood. Her attacker was already back on her feet, moving on to another student who had tripped and fallen.

“Becca! Get up!” Daniel’s voice trembled. His feet felt glued to the floor. Absolute, paralyzing fear had locked down his entire nervous system.

It only took ten seconds. Becca’s body stopped seizing. She slowly looked up. Her eyes, once a warm brown, were now as white as milk. Her jaw moved stiffly, making that same clicking sound. Becca was no longer human. She turned her head towards Daniel, sniffed the air, and began to crawl rapidly in his direction.

Someone slammed hard into Daniel’s shoulder, sending him stumbling back.

“RUN, YOU IDIOT!” a student yelled as he sprinted past him.

The impact snapped Daniel back to reality. He spun around, turning his back on the thing that was once Becca now chasing him, and ran towards the table where his friends were. Hell had been unleashed in the cafeteria. There were three, no, five similar creatures now tearing students apart in the middle of the room. Blood was pooling everywhere.

At the bottom of the first-floor staircase, Daniel saw Chania just coming down, clutching a novel, her face a mask of pale shock as she witnessed the massacre before her.

“Chania!” Daniel darted forward, grabbing her arm roughly. “Run! Now!”

“Daniel? W-what is that?! Where’s Xavier?!” Chania shrieked hysterically as Daniel dragged her away by force.

“Don’t look back! Get upstairs!” Daniel barked. There was no hesitation in his voice anymore. Adrenaline had burned his fear away, leaving only pure instinct.

They bolted up the stairs together, their breath coming in ragged gasps. The situation on the second-floor corridor was just as chaotic. Students were running for their lives, pursued by feral figures. Suddenly, from behind a concrete pillar, a creature lunged at Daniel.

He had no time to dodge. He and the creature went tumbling to the floor. The putrid stench of death and a foul, metallic breath washed over Daniel’s face. A thick, black fluid dripped from the creature’s mouth, landing on his shirt collar. Pale hands with blackened fingernails clawed at his face.

“Shit! Get off!” Daniel snarled. He pinned the creature’s neck with his left forearm, using his right knee to slam into its chest with all his strength.

One powerful shove sent the creature flying backward. Daniel scrambled to his feet, grabbing Chania’s hand again.

“Quick! In that classroom!” Daniel pointed towards a row of closed classroom doors.

They ran for Classroom 2-B. Just as Daniel reached for the doorknob, another figure appeared from a side hall. He nearly threw a punch before realizing who it was.

“Bianca?!” Chania cried out.

Bianca stood there, panting heavily. A pizza box lay dropped at her feet, her face as white as a sheet with a splatter of someone else’s blood on her left cheek. She was shaking uncontrollably.

“Open the door! Get in, get in!” Bianca screamed in panic.

Daniel threw the door open, shoving Chania and Bianca inside first, then immediately slammed the heavy wooden door shut. With trembling hands, he fumbled with the lock. Click.

“Help me push this!” Daniel commanded, his voice hoarse and firm.

He and Bianca used all their strength to drag the heavy, solid oak professor’s desk, shoving it to barricade the main door. Not satisfied, Daniel piled five chairs on top of it to brace against any impact from the outside.

Now, the classroom was silent. The only sound was the ragged breathing of three human beings who had just escaped death.

Chania slid to the floor, hugging her knees, her face a mask of profound shock. Her gaze was vacant. Bianca leaned against the wall, slowly sinking down, burying her face in her hands as she tried to stifle her sobs.

Daniel stood in the middle of the room, clenching his fists. The memory of Becca’s torn throat replayed in his mind. He felt a wave of nausea, but he swallowed it down.

Suddenly, he realized something. He turned to the two girls, his brow furrowed.

“Wait,” Daniel’s breath caught. His eyes scanned the empty room. “Where’s Xavier? Why wasn’t he with you, Chan?”

Chania looked up, her swollen eyes staring at Daniel with a dazed expression. “I… I told him I was just running upstairs for a second to grab a novel I left behind. I left Xavier alone at the cafeteria table.”

“Dammit!” Daniel growled, slamming his fist into the concrete wall, the pain shooting through his knuckles. “That means that idiot is still downstairs! He’s probably still zoned out or trying to save his precious laptop instead of his own life!”

“You can fight, Niel,” Bianca suddenly blurted out. Her voice trembled, filled with an irrational desperation. “Why didn’t you just fight them back there? Why did we just run?!”

Daniel shot Bianca a sharp look. “You think this is some campus brawl, Ca?! You saw what happened down there! They don’t feel pain! One bite, one scratch, and you’re done. Becca turned right in front of my goddamn eyes!”

At the mention of Becca’s name, Bianca fell silent. Her sobs grew louder.

“Stop it, Bianca. Stop blaming Daniel,” Chania interrupted, trying to steady her own voice even though her hands were still shaking. “We’re trapped in here. And we can’t possibly get out with just our bare hands. Xavier needs us, but there’s nothing we can do right now.”

Daniel wiped his face roughly. He walked towards the large glass window overlooking the campus courtyard, pulling the curtain back just a fraction. The scene below was the definition of hell on Earth.

Under the increasingly heavy rain, students who had been running were now scattered like broken dolls on the grass. Vicious figures swarmed over the bodies, tearing and chewing in the dim light of the garden lamps.

“Monsters don’t need a screen to be real,” Daniel muttered bitterly, repeating his own sarcasm from half an hour ago. “Xavier was right. The apocalypse is here.”

Chania suddenly stood up. She wiped away her tears, pulled out her cracked-screen phone, and showed it to Daniel.

“Daniel, look at this,” Chania whispered urgently. “Right before the campus signal died completely, I managed to open a viral forum thread from the next town over. This… this isn’t a normal virus.”

Daniel took the phone, reading the bolded text typed by an anonymous account.

“They react to the weather. Humidity accelerates cell transmission. When it rains or the air is extremely damp, they enter Phase 2. They become Listeners. They can detect the smallest sounds from a great distance. DO NOT MAKE A SOUND.”

The scientific logic that had been Daniel’s anchor for twenty years shattered completely. Now, he had to survive using rules that sounded like they came from a cheap sci-fi novel.

“Phase two…” Daniel murmured. He looked from Chania to Bianca and back again. “The rain outside… it’s making them more aggressive.”

Just as Daniel finished his sentence, the air in the classroom seemed to freeze.

Thud… Thud…

A soft, rhythmic bumping sound came from the barricaded door. It was steady. Constant. The heavy professor’s desk vibrated slightly.

Daniel held his breath. He raised a single finger to his lips, giving Bianca and Chania an absolute command to be completely silent. Not to make a single sound.

“Daniel,” Bianca whispered, her voice no louder than an exhale, fresh tears streaming down her face. “Do they know we’re in here?”

Before Daniel could answer, the thudding stopped.

A dead, terrifying silence enveloped them for three long seconds. Then, it was replaced by a sound far more horrifying, a sound that made the blood in Daniel’s veins run cold.

Click… creeak…

The metal doorknob behind the professor’s desk began to slowly turn downwards. Something out there, something smart enough not to just break the door down but to try the lock, was about to get in.